As Promised: Charlie Brooker- Court Jester for the BBC

As I said in class on Thursday, I recommend that you folks get familiar with Charlie Brooker. I'm going to post a few links to some of his better stuff from the (sadly, defunct) BBC comedy/satire series Screenwipe so that you can see for yourselves what his style of humor is on this show. Beware, however, that BBC language standards are not the FCC's, and British idiom usage is not American usage, so don't be surprised if he uses turns of phrase that sound unusual to you.

Charlie Brooker's How to Report the News is a bit that satirizes TV news presentation. As noted in class, this is a professional norm in the TV business, and it applies readily to American news production.

This is from Brooker's Newswipe program, and it's just as vicious in its satirical take on the medium and business.

Finally, Brooker's take on a career in TV. He exaggerates for comedic effect, but this is not far from the truth- especially as it is in the UK and in the US. Brooker uses comedy to smooth the rough edges to his message, which is one of skepticism regarding the very medium--television--that he works in and derives his income from most of the time. He has a new series, A Touch of Cloth, coming soon and I do look forward to more of his whit. (That, and the next series of 10 O'Clock Live, which he does with three other notable British TV celebrities: Lauren Laverne, Jimmy Carr and David Mitchell.) His other notable satire--this time of reality TV in general, and the UK's obsession with Big Brother in specific--is the zombie series Dead Set, which even had several Big Brother regulars involved as live or undead versions of themselves. (If you loved any of George Romero's films, this is for you.)